The Football Card Blog

Well, Sports Card Info stole my thunder on this one a little bit--but, I guess that's what happens when you have an idea and don't acto on it for several weeks.  My recent splurge on some older packs of cards reminded me of an episode on Antiques Roadshow I saw a year or two ago, which featured some unopened packs of 1958 Topps Football cards:

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Well, I was over at the local retail giant this past weekend, getting a few things for the house, and noticed that they had some 2008 product in.  And, even though I'm not going to make it a goal to review every product that comes out on TheFootballCardBlog.com, I thought I'd better at least do some blaster boxes.

So, I grabbed a box of 2008 Press Pass, and against my better judgment, a box of 2008 Upper Deck Draft Edition.  Press Pass is something I've usually grabbed a box of later on in the season, after Topps Draft Picks & Prospects would disappear from the retailers, and before Bowman Chrome would come in (of course, that was before I had a local hobby shop to buy better boxes at).  The Upper Deck is a first year product.

The Press Pass box was pretty impressive, I thought--I actually pulled three Darren McFadden cards (including a Power Pick insert, seeded 1:14 packs, a teammates card with Felix Jones, and and All Americans card), and a shiny Retailer exclusive card of Matt Ryan (I suppose that gives away which retailer I shop at--not sure if the other mega retailer has an exclusive with Press Pass).

Overall, I think Press Pass does a decent job at continuing to put out a decent quality product, with a nice handful of inserts, and some really good photography and nice designs.  It'll never be the cream of the crop, but it's always been a decent pre-draft product.

Of course, Upper Deck was always left out of the early Football game wars--something they decided to remedy this year, with their Draft Edition.  The box I got wasn't so great--they certainly didn't hand seed any 1/1 cards for me to review on my box break.  In fact, the only two cards I actually pulled out and put in top loaders were two College Greats inserts, one of Matt Ryan and one of Brian Brohm.  Although I have a feeling once the draft is done, and the pricing comes out, there may be a few more, and I did get my first card of Chris Long, who has been rumored to be the top pick in the draft, although lately most rumors have focused on Jake Long or Vernon Gholston--but it's seeming very unlikely that a skill position player will go #1--and very possibly not even in the top 5--which could make for an interesting year in the card world.

Overall, though, the set seems very...plain.  Ordinary.  Rushed?  I just don't think it meets up with the type of image that Upper Deck seems to want.  All cards are stamped with a 2008 Rookie Card logo--which was very shocking when I pulled a Steve McNair (who just retired).  The design feels a bit clunky, the photography isn't bad, but isn't as exciting as the limited Upper Deck I've seen in the last year or two, and the inserts just feel boring.  I guess time will tell on this set.

Beckett is giving collector's a chance to win the 2007 Exquisite Collection Adrian Peterson Rookie Signature Spectrum 1/1 that they pulled in the who Box Busters fiasco a few weeks back--all you have to do is go fill out their second year end football survey.

This survey also didn't ask for my name or address, so I can only assume that they are tracking it through my login, which is set to always be remembered.  At least I hope so, or they aren't going to know I won it...

After the kerfuffle over the Beckett Video Box Break of two boxes of Upper Deck Exquisite, one would hope that Beckett would tread very carefully with their next round of box breaks.  And while they do play it somewhat safe, by opening a box of 2008 Press Pass, which is significantly less impactful on the wallet than Exquisite, and point out explcitly that it was taken "off the production line at the printing facility north of Dallas," some people may still ask a few questions...

The first question someone may ask would be on the timing--Press Pass isn't shipping until next week, but they get the box to open early.  Doesn't particularly bother me, as they're in the press, and it's a good move by the Press Pass folks to build some buzz early.  But given the kerfuffle, I am a bit surprised that they went for a break of product that won't hit the public for a bit yet.

The second question is that of star player cards--a question that will likely be asked of every single future Beckett Box Break, given the Adrian Peterson 1/1 pull.  In the box of 2008 Press Pass, they pulled two Matt Ryan parallels (one #'d to 500), a Matt Ryan jersey (#'d to 150), and a Darren McFadden insert, along with a handful of other likely first round picks.

Given Matt Ryan's status as likely being the first QB taken in the draft, some might raise eyebrows at this.  Of course, in a product like Press Pass, it's tough to say that's not somewhat normal.

In the end, I'd say this break shouldn't raise too much of an uproar.  But there will likely be some collector's who disagree...

Of course, the much bigger news out of all of this in my eyes is that the 2008 Football Card Season is just around the corner!

So who knows if he'll stay retired, but I thought I'd take a quick peek at the impact the announcement has had on his cards on eBay, especially since I picked up a few of his rookie cards a few years ago, quite possibly for this very moment. (Oh, and I do figure that the odds of Beckett doing a similar article, probably much more thorough, is about 99%).

A quick look at recently close auctions show a 1991 Favre Upper Deck Star rookie (the one that you can kind of make out in the header photo above) going for $7.99 in a Buy it Now auction, a 1991 Fleer Ultra going for $6 plus $3 S/H in a BIN auction, another '91 Upper Deck going for $10 (BIN again), and a 2 card lot of '91 Upper Deck going for $13 BIN.  There are a ton of BIN auctions that closed out this morning.

Going back to auctions that closed yesterday, a '91 Upper Deck closed for $3.25+$3 S/H, a '91 Fleer Ultra for $3.05+$2.95 S/H, a 2005 Topps Throwback 1991 Topps BGS 9.5 that failed to get a bid at $9.95+$3.95 (same card sold BIN for $19.95+$3.95 earlier today), a '91 Fleer Ultra that didn't get a bid at $0.99+$2.99 S/H, another with no bids at $0.99+$3, a '91 Upper Deck for $8.00+$4.60 with no bids, and another one that sold BIN for $3.50+$2.

Looking at live auctions, it's going crazy:

'91 Upper Deck, $20.00 + $2.50 with 4 hours left
'91 Fleer Ultra, $10.50 + $2.00 with 3 hours left
'91 Upper Deck, $10.50 + $2.50 with 5 hours left
'91 Upper Deck, $15.00 + $4.95 with 1.5 hours left

There's even an Upper Deck Rookie Debut card (appears to be a 2005, I think, but conveniently there are no years listed in the auction) selling for $10.79 + $3.50 with an hour left (and a seller with a 97% rating, although all from 12 months or older).

My final verdict: Hold on while I get my scanner fired up so I can get my three Favre's listed.  In fact, I even found a '91 Upper Deck BGS 9.5 that had a BIN of $25 + $1.50 S/H, which I decided to snap up--hopefully I won't be late to the gold rush.

Otherwise, I guess I'll just take some Saturday to drive a couple hours east, and find some sucker Packer fan to take it off my hands. Now, the only question is, can I stomach making Favre a Card of the Week on Friday?